Glad to see Ana Torrent's getting some praise around here for her performance in Erice's Spirit of the Beehive - a beautiful little film... Still, I would point attention to Carlos Saura's Cria! (1975), citing Torrent's amazing role as a young girl dealing with the death of her father. Less visually haunting than Beehive, but she gives a gorgeously nuanced performance thanks to Saura's well-staged Francoist metaphors. worth searching around for, though video copies seem scarce. JP

Have yet to see many of the performances mentioned previously but would definitely agree with the performances put forth in the Bicycle Thief and 400 Blows. I would also give kudos to the job the star of Come and See did; great movie. I am looking forward to seeing Kolya Burlaev's My Name is Ivan when it arrives in the mail in a few days as I have always heard what a great one it is. But I have to concede that my all time favorite performance by a child actor has to be Brandon De Wilde in Shane. The little guy never fails to bring tears to my eyes at the end of that film, and I don't care what anyone says, he deserved that Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Julia Stiles in Wicked (hotdamn). And because I love cutsie coming of age stories, Mischa Barton in Lawn Dogs ("Diddy-dum"). I don't think anyone mentioned the girl and boy in Tarkosvky's short film Steamroller and the Violin -- especially the little bit of business with the apple outside the music class. The ingenue in The Major and the Minor (Diana Lynn). Yang-yang or Ting-Ting in Yi-Yi (Jonathan Chang, Kelly Lee). The Armenian boy in Eternity and a Day. Klaus Kinski's early roles. And I have to be a fool and say Natalie Portman in Leon. However, in short: Ivan's Childhood.